Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

23 minutes ago, Blarneo said:

That one is still being built, as is the new Guardians coaster at EPCOT.

But that replacement to Rock N Rollercoaster may be put on hold even after the license with Aerosmith ends.

Maybe they'll get INXS and keep it open.

I am 40 miles from Boston and the worst part of the Rock N Rollercoaster is listening to that studio banter over and over.  After that, I never want to hear another Aerosmith song  

The good news is... I go right to the Tower of Terror and forget all about it!

"That one is still being built, as is the new Guardians coaster at EPCOT." They placed the last piece of steel segment for Tron a few months ago,  Next to Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom.

Ha, found this:  https://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/tron.htm

But another big ride at EPCOT would be great!

Ever

Person

Comes

Out

Tired

5 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Every issue of Spider-Man (and all the spin-off's... even the shitty Spider-man 2099).  I stopped collecting about 10 years ago though so don't have anything modern.  Same with all the Daredevils, Tomb Raider, Star Wars (Marvel series), Fathom and Danger Girl.

 

I'm sure there are others... both those are the completed sets I have and have read every one.

I have ISSUES!

(SEE WHAT I DID THERE!!!!)

 

😂

 

 

So do these guys

http://wehaveissues.ca/

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

This is a fantastic point and the answer to the question is YES! And it is overwhelmingly positive.  Zero negativity from non-gaming or casual mom's in the media.  Aside from our extensive focus group testing... lets only discuss what casual or non-gamers think... or even more specific... the audience we're going for.  Every article I'm about to reference is written by a "mom" in our target audience.

 

https://mom2.com/official-sponsor-intellivision-entertainment/

"Intellivision Amico is a home video game console designed to bring social fun back to the living room.  We are so excited for this new system."

 

https://gritdaily.com/intellivision-four-decades-later/

Over the years different genres of gaming evolved along with technology, gaming became more isolating, but exactly why?

Was it because games became more complicated and competitive, requiring players to concentrate more?  Or was it because as they became more complicated, parents gave up trying to stay involved?

Intellivision Amico is exciting because it is focused on bringing family, friends and generations back together in a room.

 

https://www.crresearch.com/youthbeat/blog/technology-for-kids-consumer-electronics-show-2020-recap

The Cool New Toys

Amico, the new gaming “console” from Intellivision (launching October 2020), is affordable at $200 and family-friendly in several ways. It comes with two controllers, though up to an additional six virtual ones can be added by downloading an app to smart devices. It’s portable—Sally can take it over to a friend’s house and access all of her games. It doesn’t tempt kids with in-app purchases.  And, a quarter of its library is “retro reimagined” games that parents will recall fondly, like Frogger, modernized for all-family enjoyment. Nintendo Switch had best be looking over its shoulder.

 

Although written by a dad, here's a website for parents.  You'll notice all of the positive overtones.  We don't know these folks and have never met them.  You won't see snarky opinions or wrongly formatted paragraphs and misspellings.

https://kidscreen.com/2020/03/25/intellivision-goes-retro-to-get-kids-back-in-the-game/

 

 

The messaging, simplicity and S.A.F.E. are HUGE reasons these folks love it. 

 

The bottom line... all of these arguments that hardcore elitists make don't really exist in the real world.  I don't need to make counterpoints to those arguments to those folks... because they already know it to be true.  All we need to do is show them the solution.  And when they hear about everything we've done... they are 100% on board from the get go.

 

Would you like at that articles written that don’t include personal opinions what a crazy concept 

56 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I'd buy Vectrex first and revive that. 

 

 

This is not the first time you have said that..  After you get this one off the ground and rolling along. I look forward to "the next vectrex 11/11/2022" announcement.

Crossing Animals® is an interesting case, though: whereas some games stop at being "casual-friendly", this series strongly pushes light amounts of playtime per day. In fact, I've found that the many dialogue boxes and menu system greatly discourage the kind of town customization that hardcore fans seem to want. (Not that that's a bad thing )

I have no clue about the other two games Tommy mentioned, but I got to say that Animal Crossing for DS is one of the few games my mother enjoys, and enjoys to this day.

(Speaking of that, she and I used to ADORE playing rounds of Mario Party together. A board game/minigame type of deal would be perfect for Amico!)

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

The reason she hates it is because she doesn't find the analog stick to be a great input device for this type of game.  Always struggling with it to put the plates and items in the exact spot.  She hates the limited time constraints and how it is always in a state of panic as opposed to just enjoying something.  And finally... she felt the difficult level ramped up WAY too quickly.  By Level 3 it had become FRUSTRATING as opposed to challenging.

I completely agree. I have also stopped near level 3. Often I am pressing the wrong button, or my character not exactly at the perfect place !

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

It's like on that PU Podcast video I watched yesterday when Ian declared how casual and accessible Animal Crossing is.. therefore Nintendo already has the "casual" and family market covered and there is ZERO reason for another family machine to exist.  In his mind... he actually thinks that folks like my mom and non-gamers would enjoy Animal Crossing.  Talk about a guy within his own bubble and having zero clue about the rest of the world.  I also find it interesting that he starts to physically twitch as his eyes get wider and start to dart back and forth and he starts making even more awkward hand and finger gestures whenever the thought of Amico enters his mind.  And although he would never admit it, I'm assuming that deep down he's just scared that Intellivision might be on to something and he doesn't want anything to take away from his precious deity that he has worshiped at the alter for his entire life.

Just an opinion and hunch. 

Yes. And you know, if the switch had been another failure, and that Nintendo would have abandoned the console world,
who knows if Ian would have liked Amico to succeed to take the place of the defunct Nintendo company. 😮
(I know Nintendo will probably always be there for software, but Tommy could have try to get some licenses ... lol)

2 hours ago, jaybird3rd said:

and communities like ours as "cults of Kool-Aid drinkers."

2 hours ago, jaybird3rd said:

It's easy for communities like ours to forget that, as passionate and as connected to the history of Intellivision as many of us are, our numbers are too small to make a venture like the Amico successful all by ourselves.  We can help to promote it, but in the end, we're a vanishingly small sliver of the target audience.

so are you saying that you're not just the president, but also a member? 

25 minutes ago, woobman said:

This is not the first time you have said that..  After you get this one off the ground and rolling along. I look forward to "the next vectrex 11/11/2022" announcement.

Sorry, but I think you are wrong ! 🤨

10/10/2020   then next sequence should be 11/11/2222.

I think we have to forget it ! 😔

So the question has been asked, will a game console come out not by Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft in 2020?  The answer is of course yes, and it's highly doubtful either of those companies will release a new one this year. Amico, Atari VCS (this is the year!), Evercade, Playdate, and I'm sure a whole bunch of others will come out.

If you want to be blunt, a new iPhone will come out and sell more units in a quarter than the big three will sell in a year combined.  Although I don't have the numbers, I'm sure they'll earn more off of gaming as well. These guys can crap on mobile games, but there's a reason 1000 new games are released on mobile every month.  That's where the money is. Even Nintendo had to concede that putting games on mobile is something they have to do.  So these uber-idiots need to get off their high horse by thinking Nintendo is the end all, be all of gaming. If you look at it from a numbers perspective, Nintendo is chump change compared to Apple.  But any reasonable person doesn't look at just the numbers, because success is measured in many way.

These haters go off of anecdotal evidence, which doesn't mean anything. So they don't know anyone who wants an Amico must mean that nobody wants one. Well, if we went by that logic, then the original Intellivision must have captured 90% of the video game market because I literally knew of one person who had an Atari, while over a dozen of my friends had an Intellivision. As I got older, everyone I knew had a Genesis, and it wasn't until the mid-90's before I met someone who had owned a SNES (and I admit, at the time I thought that was just weird). At this point, I don't really care about what some kids on YouTube say, I want an Amico. And to be honest, I want it now.

Also, since a lot of people are talking about poster girls from the 80's and 90's, how many people here browsed the "Thriller" section of their local Blockbuster looking for Shannon Tweed movies? Anyone? .... no? Just me then... 

12 minutes ago, LePionnier said:

Sorry, but I think you are wrong ! 🤨

10/10/2020   then next sequence should be 11/11/2222.

I think we have to forget it ! 😔

I guess I need to bring this out of my Mac's trash again.

Well, I thought this would be my first post on AA because I had a few questions for Tommy. But in trying to create a new account, I apparently already had one and had posted a couple of times... in 2009!! I guess I’ve been busy. So, I suppose this is my third post...

1. I’m really curious how you’ll market new games, beyond the console homepage itself, once you’re rolling. I know things have changed, but I used to get my new game info from magazines (Electronic Games in the 80s, Computer Gaming World, etc.). Today you have the XBox and Playstation magazines, Edge, and others. And then a boatload of gaming sites and YouTube channels. All those target the more serious gamer. But since the Amico is targeting people who, in large numbers I would think, aren’t readers of those magazines or going to those sites, where will they see reviews of games? Or will they care as much about reviews? Do you have sites in mind that cater to your target market that review games? 

I guess the simpler version of the question is how will you market new games (post launch) to your target audience outside of the homepage of the Amico?

2. The investment that you got from the government of another country (it escapes me at the moment) is fascinating to me. I could probably guess some reasons, but you’d know better... what is their reasoning for this? What do they get out of it? Is it simply investment for their country’s developers to benefit? I think it’s really cool they do this but I’d love to know more about their motivation. Are there other countries that do this that you’re working with or hope to work with?

3. I just want to express this so I get it off my chest and let it go. I completely understand the reasoning for holding back on the original versions of the games. I do wish, however, we wouldn’t have to wait as long as you’ve indicated... about a year after launch? After a month or two from the launch, I would like to see each new game get the homepage for a set amount of time as you’ve indicated, then give one day in-between for a Flashback Friday where a classic, original would get a 24 hour window on the homescreen. (And, obviously, “Flashback” is probably a bad name given the Flashback devices, but you get the idea... maybe Throwback Thursday.) I realize this idea likely won’t fly, but I just needed to say it.

4. Related to that, when a re-imagined game, like Cloudy Mountain or Nightstalker, comes out, will the original come out as part of that? Or will that still have to wait until the Amico is established and you start releasing the older games in packs? 

Thank you.

55 minutes ago, 1980gamer said:

Ever

Person

Comes

Out

Tired

People I go there with end up drunk off their asses, doing DATW.

https://www.delish.com/kitchen-tools/news/a42446/the-ultimate-guide-to-drinking-around-the-world-at-epcot/

1 hour ago, 1980gamer said:

I am 40 miles from Boston and the worst part of the Rock N Rollercoaster is listening to that studio banter over and over.  After that, I never want to hear another Aerosmith song  

The good news is... I go right to the Tower of Terror and forget all about it!

 

"That one is still being built, as is the new Guardians coaster at EPCOT." They placed the last piece of steel segment for Tron a few months ago,  Next to Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom.

Ha, found this:  https://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/tron.htm

 

But another big ride at EPCOT would be great!

Ever

Person

Comes

Out

Tired

 

After all that talk about Aerosmith last week, I had Dream On stuck in my head for three days, 😆 

1 hour ago, IntelliMission said:

Ian has health issues and needs tranquilizer pills, so yeah, we should probably stop making comments about the way he moves. 🖖 I only watched like a couple of their podcasts, but somehow managed to find about this.

Health issues or not, he's still an obnoxious dick! 

If my niece was dying of cancer, would you think it'd be ok if I took it out on you, if you said she hit your son at school?

1 hour ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

Actually a “concern” I wanted to address but you’re on it.  How do you tell games that have more casual appeal, were the controls simplified, maybe the earlier levels or settings allowing for a less high pressure environment.

 

When you mentioned that the Karma Engine wouldn’t apply as single player, I was wondering if such allowances for more forgiving play could be adjusted.  The grandparents whose Amico was an primary device for grandkids’ visits, but may also get a good deal of solo play.  Was hoping to hear it is keeping the less savvy in mind along with all the high scores by space and time.

It's really all about the design at heart and simplified instructions and controls.  We even took the DASH button out of Shark! Shark! as an example.  Why complicate things and then allow a more hardcore type of gamer having a slight advantage because they are constantly hitting the dash button all the time while grandma is just swimming around.  Instead... I gave the smaller fish the ability to move faster and the bigger you get, the slightly slower you get.  So it makes it tougher for a big player to even get a small player.

Balance and simplicity is EVERYTHING.  I spend hours a day figuring out and testing the best ways to come at games from a completely different angle so that EVERYONE can play yet still keep it challenging for more experienced players.

1 hour ago, sanguinesonata said:

so are you saying that you're not just the president, but also a member? 

Me, president?  Nah, I'm just a guy with the keys to the janitor's closet.

5 minutes ago, jaybird3rd said:

Me, president?  Nah, I'm just a guy with the keys to the janitor's closet.

11 hours ago, jaybird3rd said:

Me, president?  Nah, I'm just a guy with the keys to the janitor's closet.

... oh, and in case anyone's wondering, I still have all my natural hair!  (Despite some peoples' best efforts to make me pull it out.)

1 hour ago, 1980gamer said:

I am 40 miles from Boston and the worst part of the Rock N Rollercoaster is listening to that studio banter over and over.  After that, I never want to hear another Aerosmith song  

The good news is... I go right to the Tower of Terror and forget all about it!

 

"That one is still being built, as is the new Guardians coaster at EPCOT." They placed the last piece of steel segment for Tron a few months ago,  Next to Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom.

Ha, found this:  https://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/tron.htm

 

But another big ride at EPCOT would be great!

Ever

Person

Comes

Out

Tired

 

I went to the opening of the Tron ride in Shanghai, China!  I was working on and producing BT's album and tour at the time (Electronic Opus) and he did the music for everything!  AND... we also happened to be in China for that month touring Video Games Live!  We even had special access to the Tron ride and I bought bagfuls of Shanghai Disney Tron merch!!

56 minutes ago, Jake67 said:

Well, I thought this would be my first post on AA because I had a few questions for Tommy. But in trying to create a new account, I apparently already had one and had posted a couple of times... in 2009!! I guess I’ve been busy. So, I suppose this is my third post...

Hi!,  Thanks for stopping by and for the interest!  Hope I can answer all your questions.

56 minutes ago, Jake67 said:

 

1. I’m really curious how you’ll market new games, beyond the console homepage itself, once you’re rolling. I know things have changed, but I used to get my new game info from magazines (Electronic Games in the 80s, Computer Gaming World, etc.). Today you have the XBox and Playstation magazines, Edge, and others. And then a boatload of gaming sites and YouTube channels. All those target the more serious gamer. But since the Amico is targeting people who, in large numbers I would think, aren’t readers of those magazines or going to those sites, where will they see reviews of games? Or will they care as much about reviews? Do you have sites in mind that cater to your target market that review games? 

 

I guess the simpler version of the question is how will you market new games (post launch) to your target audience outside of the homepage of the Amico?

Our initial target audience are not gamers.  It is families.  This is why we have the folks from Nintendo (Sr. VP of Marketing) working with us as well as the woman (Cara Acker) who headed up the Disney line at Mattel!

Not only will we be advertising to many Mommy bloggers and Mom influencers (for example we are the title sponsors for the very successful Mom 2.0 Summit:  https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=mom+2.0+summit+intellivision)

But also things like the Christian LifeFest music festival. 

Doing things like Mall Tours and in store hands on demos, etc.  Getting to grandparents and things like Parenting magazine.

And of course... advertising in mobile games where all of our folks are at... yet playing by themselves.  

Big celebrity endorsements is another avenue.  And when it comes to PR... expect to see us on things like Ellen, The Tonight Show, Conan and in magazines like "O" (Oprah).

56 minutes ago, Jake67 said:

2. The investment that you got from the government of another country (it escapes me at the moment) is fascinating to me. I could probably guess some reasons, but you’d know better... what is their reasoning for this? What do they get out of it? Is it simply investment for their country’s developers to benefit? I think it’s really cool they do this but I’d love to know more about their motivation. Are there other countries that do this that you’re working with or hope to work with?

It's a stimulus package that many countries offer to incentivize companies to spend money in their country and to use government funds to help foster creativity within their own country.  Germany, Ireland & Canada are some of the bigger countries that do this specifically for video games... and we are working with all of them. 

56 minutes ago, Jake67 said:

3. I just want to express this so I get it off my chest and let it go. I completely understand the reasoning for holding back on the original versions of the games. I do wish, however, we wouldn’t have to wait as long as you’ve indicated... about a year after launch? After a month or two from the launch, I would like to see each new game get the homepage for a set amount of time as you’ve indicated, then give one day in-between for a Flashback Friday where a classic, original would get a 24 hour window on the homescreen. (And, obviously, “Flashback” is probably a bad name given the Flashback devices, but you get the idea... maybe Throwback Thursday.) I realize this idea likely won’t fly, but I just needed to say it.

Getting across the proper message to millions of people of who we are and what we do much outweighs the tens of thousands of folks who will want the original stuff.  We are constantly already fighting off "RETRO CONSOLE".  Almost every article written calls us that.  And although we may have a retro mentality when it comes to design and playability.  We are NOT a retro console.  Putting out 40 year old games will only hinder the fact that we're not a retro console.

56 minutes ago, Jake67 said:

 

4. Related to that, when a re-imagined game, like Cloudy Mountain or Nightstalker, comes out, will the original come out as part of that? Or will that still have to wait until the Amico is established and you start releasing the older games in packs? 

They will not come with the new versions.  They will need to be sold separately for the reason mentioned above.  We must establish that it's a new console with new games first.  This is also the reason why I'm generally opposed to "pixel art" style graphics at first. 

56 minutes ago, Jake67 said:

 

Thank you.

No worries!  Thanks for asking.  I appreciate you stopping by.  Let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks!

1 hour ago, Swami said:

After all that talk about Aerosmith last week, I had Dream On stuck in my head for three days, 😆 

I've had it stuck in my head for about 50 years!!

I blame THIS guy!

👄🎤

Good gravy... I just downloaded Earthworm Jim from GOG (I forgotten I bought it like a year ago on sale).

Trying to use my 8 bit do sn30 pro+ on this game is like trying to walk upstairs backwards using only my tongue. 

My goodness the crossbar doesn't work at all and the thumbstick only registers like 4 of the 8 way directions.  And standing still often makes Jim crouch and stand up it what can only be described as a spastic rendition of Pee Wee Herman trying to dance.

The game is probably the greatest game ever but thumbsticks aren't the way to go.

I know Tommy and the others didnt have anything to do with the port so I just mentioning that I cant (as yet) give a definitive thumbs up on this one.

Lol

😅

28 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Our initial target audience are not gamers.  It is families.  This is why we have the folks from Nintendo (Sr. VP of Marketing) working with us as well as the woman (Cara Acker) who headed up the Disney line at Mattel!

Sorry I wasn’t more clear on that one. I understand all that for the console itself, but I’m talking about the individual games that come out each month. 

I might just still be in old-school thinking, but I would imagine welcome publicity of any console year after year is great reviews of games that are released. And if you’re a developer who makes money from game sales, you’d love to see it positively reviewed somewhere.

So my question was more of where will people read about new games, not the console itself. And then that led me to wonder if the target market (like moms) even cares about a review of individual games after they’ve already bought the console. Maybe because of the low cost of games, just seeing it on the homescreen makes a new game a likely purchase if the description of the game strikes a chord with someone in the family. 

Just trying to wrap my head around how a new company (well, a long-time company doing things in a new way) promotes individual games beyond the homescreen, or whether that will even matter in the Amico world.

I’m already all in. I bought a Founder’s Edition and a VIP edition. But some of that behind-the-scenes marketing stuff is really interesting to me.

54 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

We even took the DASH button out of Shark! Shark! as an example. 

Great !

54 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Why complicate things and then allow a more hardcore type of gamer having a slight advantage because they are constantly hitting the dash button all the time while grandma is just swimming around.  Instead... I gave the smaller fish the ability to move faster and the bigger you get, the slightly slower you get.  So it makes it tougher for a big player to even get a small player.

Great Again !

55 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I spend hours a day figuring out and testing the best ways to come at games from a completely different angle so that EVERYONE can play yet still keep it challenging for more experienced players.

What can I say ! You are the best ! Everyday you are raising the bar of all my expectations ! 😃

I am proud to be a Founder, and a VIP !